Click to return to:

Born in Launceston in 1929, Peter Sculthorpe was educated at Launceston Church Grammar  School, the University of Melbourne and Wadham College, Oxford. He is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Sydney, where he began teaching in 1963. He has also taught at other music institutions and universities both within and outside Australia, and he holds honorary doctorates from Tasmania, Melbourne, Sussex and Griffith. An Officer of both the Order of Australia and the British Empire, in 1998 he was elected one of Australia’s Living National Treasures. In 2002, he was elected to Foreign Honorary Membership of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Peter Sculthorpe has written works in most musical forms, and his output relates easily to the unique social climate and physical characteristics of Australia. Furthermore, his country’s geographical position has caused him to be influenced by much of the music of Asia, especially that of Japan and Indonesia. In recent years, however, he has been more influenced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island music and culture. His work is discussed in books by Michael Hannan (Peter Sculthorpe: His Music and Ideas 1929 - 1979, University of Queensland Press, 1982), Deborah Hayes (Peter Sculthorpe: A Bio-Bibliography, Greenwood Press, 1993); and by the composer himself (Sun Music: Journeys and reflections from a composer’s life, ABC Books, 1999).  Graeme Skinner’s biography, Peter Sculthorpe: The Making of an Australian Composer (UNSW Press), covering the years 1929 to 1974, was published in Sydney in 2007. He is currently working on several major commissions, and will celebrate his 80th birthday next year.

Born in Launceston, Tasmania, in 1929, Peter Sculthorpe was educated at Launceston Church Grammar School, the University of Melbourne and Wadham College, Oxford. He is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Sydney, where he began teaching in 1963. He has also taught at music institutions and universities both within and outside Australia, and he holds honorary doctorates from Tasmania, Melbourne, Sussex, Griffith and Sydney. In 1977 he was appointed OBE (Officer of the Order of the Birtish Empire) and in that year he was the recipient of a Silver Jubilee Medal. He was appointed AO (Officer of the Order of Australia) in 1990.

Since 1965, Sculthorpe's music had been published internationally by Faber Music. His catalogue of compositions consists of well over tree hundred works, many of them regularly performed and recorded throughout the world. The composer has written in most musical forms and his output relates easily to the unique social climate and physical characteristics of Australia. Furthermore, his country’s geographical position has caused him to be influenced by the music of Asia, especially that of Japan and Indonesia.  In recent years, however, he has been more influenced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait island music and culture.

Sculthorpe has a deep love for his country and for its landscape, which he regards as sacred.  Because of this, one of the most constant themes in his output is the protection of Australia’s environment, as well as that of the whole planet. His preoccupation with the frailty of the human condition can be heard in works such as the choral Requiem (2004) and String Quartet No 16 (2006). The former grew from his concern about women and children being killed in the war in Iraq, the latter from the plight of asylum-seekers in detention.

The recipient of many awards, Sculthorpe regards the most significant as being chosen as one of Australia’s 100 Living National Treasures (National Trust of Australia, 1997), Distinguished Artist 2001 (International Society for the Performing Arts), Honorary Foreign Life Member (American Academy of Arts and Letters, 2003) and one of the 100 Most Influential Australians (The Bulletin magazine, 2006).

Sculthorpe’s work is discussed in books by Michael Hannan (Peter Sculthorpe: His Music and Ideas 1929-1979, University of Queensland Press, 1982), Deborah Hayes (Peter Sculthorpe: A Bio-Bibliography, Greenwood Press, 1993), and the composer himself, in his autobiography, Sun Music (ABC Books, 1999).  Graeme Skinner’s biography, Peter Sculthorpe: The Making of an Australian Composer, covering the years 1929 to 1974 was published in Sydney in 2007 by UNSW Press.  At present, Fiona Richards is writing a monograph on Irkanda IV, his 1961 work for solo violin, strings and percussion.

Click to return to: